Systems Chiropractic™

Knowledge, Compassion, and Harmony: Breaking Healthcare Boundaries

My cousin, an orthopedic surgeon much older than me, graduated from a Japanese medical school and practiced in a Canadian border city. He was the first to introduce me to chiropractic care. With a greater orthopedic demand than he could personally handle, he was deeply concerned about addressing the "pain" cases that were typically treated by a chiropractor. In this small city, professional connections intertwined—his clinical nurse happened to be close friends with the local chiropractor. Through her, he heard glowing reviews about the chiropractor’s work, and from his own patients, he learned that many were directed to the chiropractor while simultaneously seeking medication from him.

Despite his conservative approach, my cousin had a deep commitment to open-minded learning. He possessed a powerful treatment tool—a hydrocortisone-procaine injection—but reserved it for cases of absolute necessity. In pursuit of alternative pain management strategies, he attended seminars on Dr. Travell's spray-and-stretch trigger point techniques. Later, he expanded his knowledge further, learning articular manipulation, muscle energy techniques, and cranial osteopathy from osteopathic doctors in the United States.

His encouragement played a crucial role in my decision to pursue chiropractic. In 1977, I visited him on a holiday break. Through this visit, I met the cardiologist who had introduced him to osteopathy. The cardiologist was an outlier among his colleagues—many avoided discussing his work because he incorporated manipulation into his treatments, similar to an osteopath. He demonstrated a technique he regularly used, a bilateral occipital lift in the supine position, and explained how he had observed tangible improvements in his patients.

This visit also became an opportunity for my cousin to personally meet the chiropractor. What I witnessed between them was a mutual respect rooted in their shared dedication to patient care.

To me, harmony among healthcare professionals arises naturally from a genuine commitment to humanity. Our pursuit of knowledge must never cease. While our profession naturally attracts patients with musculoskeletal concerns and pain-related conditions, we must never overlook the broader effects of our treatment—its benefits may extend beyond the conditions we directly address. My conclusion remains simple: we treat the patient, not merely the condition they present with.